Company insolvencies increase again as “perfect storm” of pressures hits businesses

Company insolvencies continue to creep up in England and Wales, according to analysis of new Insolvency Service data by the Corporate Recovery team at Xeinadin Group (“Xeinadin”), one of the leading professional services groups in the UK and Ireland.

There were 2,163 company insolvencies in June, up 27% on June 2022. Overall, in Q2 there were 6,403 company insolvencies, up 7% on the previous quarter and up 16% on the corresponding quarter last year.

The data marks a quarter-on-quarter increase in eight out of the last nine quarterly periods.

Over the past 12 months there have been 23,770 company insolvencies, a 24% increase on the previous 12-month period.

In June, the lion’s share of insolvencies were creditors’ voluntary liquidations, up 21% on June 2022. There were 260 compulsory liquidations, up 77% on the corresponding month last year; 130 administrations (+44%), and 14 company voluntary arrangements (+75%). There were no receivership appointments.

Corporate recovery experts at Xeinadin say the figures demonstrate the significant pressure businesses are under from a wide range of factors including rising interest rates, inflation, staffing pressures, repayments due on government bounce back loans, and more aggressive enforcement from HMRC.

Xeinadin created its dedicated corporate recovery division earlier this year to enable it to pool its capabilities from across the group. Xeinadin Corporate Recovery includes the 25-strong Manchester-based KJG Corporate Recovery team, which has over 70 years of heritage in insolvency and has won the Turnaround Restructuring & Insolvency (TRI) award for Boutique and Insolvency and Restructuring Firm of the Year twice.

Earlier this year the group acquired the long-standing corporate recovery practice of Poppleton & Appleby Northern, with offices in Manchester and Huddersfield. 

The division focuses on the protection, rescue and restructure of businesses seeking to close down and businesses struggling with debts they can’t afford to pay back.

Alan Fallows (pictured above), Director, Xeinadin Corporate Recovery, said: “The continuing increase in company insolvencies demonstrates the pressure cooker many businesses are in as a result of a perfect storm of rising interest rates, inflation across many key business costs from energy to labour, repayment deadlines for Covid-related loans, and more aggressive pursuit from HMRC.

Any business that faces a combination of these factors will be under significant pressure, and with further economic pain expected, there doesn’t look to be much respite for struggling businesses in the near future. We’re seeing a lot of companies looking to restructure their debt and we expect to see this trend continuing.”

Xeinadin has over 130 locations across the UK and Ireland and provides over 40 service lines to over 50,000 clients, predominantly small and medium sized businesses and their owner-managers. A fast-growing, acquisitive group, it is one of the professional services market’s leading businesses, with more than 1,700 employees.